If there is one piece of advice that financial advisers seem nearly unanimous on, it’s Social Security and when you should take it. If you can, wait till you’re 70. You could double your monthly check.
Rodney Brooks, retirement and personal finance columnist for The Washington Post, hashes out the various factors affecting this decision. For all the factors, though, experts agree that the decision is personal. He quotes Maya Rockeymoore:
“People retire for different kinds of reasons,” Rockymoore says. “When people say wait for normal retirement age or 70 so you can get most out of it, they mean maximizing the financial benefit. African Americans take early retirement disproportionately, and many times it’s because of health. African American men are hedging their bets. They paid in for all their lives — they know fathers and brothers had short lives — and they are looking to get something out. It is a logical and rational decision.”
